Tag: Enemies to Lovers

Review: The Risk by Elle Kennedy

Posted July 28, 2026 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

The Risk by Elle Kennedy

Series: Briar U #2
Also in this Series: The Chase
Main Leads: Brenna Jensen, Jake Connelly
Secondary Characters: Summer DiLaurentis, Hazel Simonson, Colin Fitzgerald, Hunter Davenport, Mike Hollis, Chad Jensen
Setting: United States, Massachusetts, Hastings
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, New Adult
Tropes: Fake Dating, Enemies to Lovers, Forbidden Romance, He Fell First
Release Date: February 18, 2019
Publisher: Elle Kennedy
Format: Audio, e-Book
Source: Purchased
Pages: 402
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Everyone says I’m a bad girl. They’re only partly right—I don’t let fear rule me, and I certainly don’t care what people think. But I draw the line at sleeping with the enemy. As the daughter of Briar’s head hockey coach, I’d be vilified if I hooked up with a player from a rival team.

And that’s who Jake Connelly is. Harvard’s star forward is arrogant, annoying, and too attractive for his own good. But fate is cruel—I require his help to secure a much-coveted internship, and the sexy jerk isn’t making it easy for me.

I need Connelly to be my fake boyfriend.

For every fake date…he wants a real one.

Which means this bad girl is in big trouble. Nothing good can come from sneaking around with Jake Connelly. My father would kill me, my friends will revolt, and my post-college career is on the line. But while it’s getting harder and harder to resist Jake’s oozing sex appeal and cocky grin, I refuse to fall for him.

That’s the one risk I’m not willing to take.

The Risk is the second book in Elle Kennedy’s Briar U series and it features our favorite smart ass Brenna from The Chase and the enemy, Jake Connelly. I have been looking forward to reading Brenna’s story since we first met her in Summer and Fitz’ story. She has a sparkly personality that I wanted to know more and Jake was just as wonderfully charming as I hoped he would be.

Brenna’s Dad is the coach for the Briar University’s hockey team. Jake Connelly is the star player for the Harvard hockey team. They’re going to face each other in their conference finals so tempers are high and the very last thing that Brenna needs is to get involved with Jake, of all people…but when an internship is on the line, she needs Jake to help her land this and so she asks him to do her a solid by going on a fake date with her and he agrees but only if she’ll go on a real date with him for every fake date they go on.

The chemistry was pretty strong between these two in The Chase so I was not at all surprised when we found out that Jake was Brenna’s hero. I thought that they would be pretty good together but I was wrong because they were freaking perfect for each other. I really loved seeing them battle wits and grow close with each passing page. I’m telling you guys, Elle Kennedy does great dialogue. The dialogue between her characters always feels natural and that’s something that I appreciate because not everyone can do it well and it takes me out of the story every time that I read bad dialogue. I was wrapped up in Brenna and Jake’s bubble from beginning to end. They had me laughing, sighing and just feeling all of the feels. I loved seeing them go from strangers attracted to each other to confiding their secret confidences with each other. Brenna didn’t trust easy and seeing her open up to Jake was just so rewarding for me. I loved it.

There was a part of the story where I wanted to knee Jake in the nuts but man does he make up for pissing me off and I was low key mad at Brenna for forgiving him so quickly but like Bren, I got over it because he was so damn fine that I’m not even gonna lie, during the big Briar vs. Harvard game, I was low key Team Harvard…

I’m already over it, I promise because I’m a Briar girl again but Jake Connelly is that guy…

This book was everything I was hoping it would be. Elle Kennedy did her big one with this. I loved getting to know both Brenna and Jake. I loved seeing Brenna and her father work on their issues that they had with each other. I loved seeing Jake’s parents come out and support him, but also acknowledge that they should have supported him more. I wish we’d gotten more from Brenna’s other friends, Audrey and Elisa. I wanted to see more Hazel too until we got more Hazel and then I wanted her gone. LOL.

Overall, this book was the bomb. Elle Kennedy delivers a modern New Adult romance that will rock all of your socks, I just know it. Hell yes, you should read this one.

Rating

4.5 out of 5

The Briar U Series

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Tags: 2019 Book Releases, 4.5 Stars, 400 Pages, Audio, Brenna Jensen, Briar U Series, Chad Jensen, Colin Fitzgerald, Contemporary, e-Book, Elle Kennedy, Enemies to Lovers, Fake Dating, Forbidden Romance, Hastings, Hazel Simonson, He Fell First, Hunter Davenport, Jake Connelly, Massachusetts, Mike Hollis, New Adult, Purchased, Romance, Summer DiLaurentis, United States

Review: The Score by Elle Kennedy

Posted July 8, 2026 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

The Score by Elle Kennedy

Series: Off Campus #3
Also in this Series: The Deal, The Mistake
Main Leads: Dean DiLaurentis, Allie Hayes
Secondary Characters: Garrett Graham, Hannah Wells, John Logan, Grace Ivers, John Tucker, Beau Maxwell
Setting: United States, Massachusetts, Hastings
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, New Adult
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Rebound Romance, Reformed Playboy, He Fell First, Friends with Benefits, Secret Romance, Opposites Attract, Hockey Player
Release Date: January 11, 2016
Publisher: Bloom Books
Format: Audio, e-Book
Source: Purchased
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

A New York Times bestseller! Get ready for another binge-worthy romance from international bestselling author Elle Kennedy.

He knows how to score, on and off the ice…

Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn’t have the first clue about what she’s going to do after college. To make matters worse, she’s nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship. Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won’t include the king of one-night stands.

It’ll take more than flashy moves to win her over…

Dean always gets what he wants. Girls, grades, girls, recognition, girls…he’s a ladies man, all right, and he’s yet to meet a woman who’s immune to his charms. Until Allie. For one night, the feisty blonde rocked his entire world—and now she wants to be friends? Nope. It’s not over until he says it’s over. Dean is in full-on pursuit, but when life-rocking changes strike, he starts to wonder if maybe it’s time to stop focusing on scoring…and shoot for love.

The re-read marathon continues and when I first started, it was this book that I was looking forward to reading again. Every single time that I read this book, I have loved it and that didn’t change with this re-read. I am a Dean’s girl through and through and I knew the moment that I was kicking my feet up and rolling around on my bed like Min Min from Strong Woman Do Bong Soon that I will forever and always be a Dean DiLaurentis girly.

My favorite kind of heroes are the sunshine ones that are huge flirts, funny as hell, and is still dominate when the time calls for it so Dean DiLaurentis is my kind of jam. I was a puddle of mush for him at every turn in this book but he wasn’t perfect because as much as I drooled over him, there were plenty of times when I wanted to knee him in his balls.

Allie was such a good match for Dean. I enjoyed her character in The Deal and seeing her front and center in this book only made me love her more. In The Deal, she was so strong for Hannah and in this book, you see her become strong for herself and I really enjoyed seeing her come into her own.

Elle Kennedy was really in her bag when writing these books. With each release, the books just kept getting better and better for me. I enjoyed the first two books in this series but this book right here?? Yeah, this book was fan-freaking-tastic! I adored both Dean and Allie, I adored seeing them fall in love with each other and that “CALL DEAN” scene?? The way that Dean came running to take care of his baby even though they agreed to keep their relationship secret from their friends and he came running anyway? Yessss, this is the Dean action that I love and adore!

I really loved this book and had a lot of fun re-reading this book. I laughed, I happy sighed, I blushed, and through it all, I fell in love with their love. I loved seeing Dean grow into the reformed rake that he was. I loved seeing him with his roommates and friends, I loved seeing him with the kids on the team that he coached, and I loved seeing him with Allie. Allie was great too. She was smart and strong and she was the kind of friend that makes you feel blessed to have in your corner. This was another fantastic addition that will stand the test of time because I read this book like 10 years ago and I still love the hell out of this book. Highly recommend.